Monday, the state House debated HF 2795, a bill to allow greater reach for the local horse track racing industry. The most dedicated of the House republicans are arguing in favor of the bill using arguments claiming impact on agriculture and job loss. They're playing the doomsday card. In short, they're "too big to fail".
These are the same people who are disrupting the efforts to build a new Vikings stadium. Loss of the Vikings would pose a far greater negative impact on Minnesota's economy and state budget (and carries a bigger price tag to resolve).
Canterbury Park started off with a few good years, but has struggled and begged favors from the State for most of the 30 years it has been around.
Their biggest shtick just now is wanting to broadcast races to the Indian casinos. Because they cannot draw enough people to keep the purses attractive, they are now trying to profit from someone else's customer base.
Live track horse racing has never really had more than a small audience in Minnesota, but they have big political connections. This is an industry that has been propping up for decades. This is picking winners and losers. The republicans call it the freedom to expand a business and create jobs.
All the proper buzz words.
No need for all of the proper committee review. No need for all the proper research. Never mind that a business agreement would require a contract binding under the laws of both the Indian Nations and the State of Minnesota. Just claim exclusive jurisdiction for the State.
Never mind that gaming is wealth redistribution, not wealth creation. Never mind that this defies the publicly stated principles of conservatism. You won't hear "let them fail" around here, because this is crony capitalism at work. This is why capitalism is failing America.
This is why republicans are such phonies.
"hypocrisy" has lost it's significance, like a pencil that has been worn to the stub.
They're not that bright, either. Much as they want to use expanded gaming to prop up Canterbury Park, they also want to use expanded gaming in other locations to pay for the state's slice of the new Vikings stadium. They are concerned that electronic pull tabs won't bring in enough revenues, but they haven't said anything about a basic law of supply and demand: when supply goes up, profits go down. By going to the gaming well too often, they dilute the effectiveness of it. Self-defeating might be another way of describing it.